Pioneer Day Classic 2011 5k

I ran my first race, since last Thanksgiving, this Saturday in honor of Pioneer Day. It was a lot of fun and I did fairly well. I'm not a very fast runner and I placed last in my age group but at least I did it. Cory wasn't able to come because he had to take the GRE that morning, it was the last day he could take it for his vet school applications (slacker). He was sorry to miss it but I had Nicole there with me for moral support. I woke her up really early for it too, she's such a trooper.

 I did it!

I love you Nicoley

Ah, the Brits

I have a soft spot for everything English. And I don't just mean the language and literature. I'm talking about that wonderful country across the pond. I love their food (well mostly just fish and chips) and their humor and their television and their accents. I mean, come on! They came up with Monty Python, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who, of course they're wonderful people.

Recently, I found a youtube channel run by a British kid from Bath. His name is Charlie McDonnell and he's hilarious and talented. I highly recommend checking out his stuff. It makes me so happy to watch his videos and every time I watch one I spend the next fifteen minutes thinking with a British accent.

Cory is applying for veterinary school this fall and I'm working heavily to convince him that he needs to get into the Royal Veterinary College so we can live in London for four years. Wouldn't that be awesome? I've been kicking myself that I never went to England while I was in Europe and I think I need to make up for it somethin' fierce.

Anniversary Adventures

This year our anniversary fell on a Sunday and since Cory was gone at scout camp the weekend before all we could really do was go out to dinner that Saturday after he got back. We went to P.F. Chang's and got their P.F. Chang's For Two deal. Cory had never been there before and he absolutely loved it. That might be our new special occasion restaurant since the last one we had made him really really sick. We rented I Am Number Four that evening and just had some nice quiet time together.

Cory bought me roses the next day to put in my new vase that he got me as a present and they are beautiful but starting to wilt. Luckily I got some pictures the first day when they were still fresh.

 Pretty, right?

Since we couldn't go anywhere super fun the weekend of our actual anniversary we decided to do our fun stuff the next Saturday which was this last weekend. We were going to get up early and hike to the hot pots up diamond fork canyon but we didn't go to bed early enough the night before to wake up in time to beat the heat so we decided to spend the day at Kiwanis Park instead. We threw around a frisbee and played card games and took along a picnic and just talked in the sun. It was nice and I wish I'd taken some pictures but I forgot (even though I remembered to bring the camera). We went to Harry Potter that afternoon and boy howdy was it good! I'm kinda sad that it's all over but, I think, the movie definitely did the book justice and redeemed some of the earlier movies too.

It was nice to spread things out through the week. It made the celebration seem that much bigger. I'm so glad I married Cory and that we have been happy together. The last two years have been interesting and trying and wonderful and hilarious and the coming years will be filled with many more equally exciting adventures.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my dear mother's birthday.

 

She's beautiful, isn't she?

Patty Lynn Furgason Hopper is kind and thoughtful. I'm constantly hearing from other people how selfless my mom is. She thinks of everyone else before herself. She loves her family and is such a good sister. She takes care of Nicoley and me even from far away. She loves my daddy. She has such great style and she is simply hilarious.

She's recently lost a lot of weight on a great program and is now helping others reach their weight loss goals by being a health coach. Check out her website and see just how amazing she is.

My mom is patient and loving and I'm so glad that she's mine. I couldn't ask for a better mother. She's been through a lot and she still smiles all the way through. She is so faithful and strong and such an inspiration to me.

Happy birthday, Mommy. I love you.

Blog design

I've been trying to learn how to make our blog unique and fun. So, there will probably be a lot of changing going on over the next few weeks. Sorry if it gets confusing but hopefully I'll find a style I like. If any of you have tips on how to customize a blog I would love some ideas and feedback. I've looked at some free templates and things but I can't find one I like and I want to do my own thing but I'm not sure how to. Any help would be much appreciated.

Sister Weekend

Four years ago I did this:


















This weekend I did this:

Okay that's a gross picture and it's hard to see but that piece of hair is now purple.

Nicole's is way cooler:

Needless to say we had a fun weekend. Cory was at scout camp so I spent Friday and Saturday with Nicoley at her apartment. We went out for lunch and rented Megamind and took the bus to the mall and got cupcakes. It was way too much fun.

What the heck!

I've decided I need to start taking pictures more often. It would probably make this blog more interesting and then I could work on those digital scrapbooks I've been wanting to make. If I'm gonna do that I'm gonna need pictures first, right.

I've also decided that I need some sort of creative outlet. I'm gonna give songwriting a shot (Shh, don't tell my band). I need to have something that I can occupy my time with other than movies and facebook. Can I just tell you how much I hate the internet. It sucks me in and won't let go.

Along with deciding some things I've also realized another. This blog says Cory and Kristen in the title but really it's just me (Kristen...obviously). Cory doesn't really get into it. Not that I do either. But I feel kinda weird having a "family blog" when all I ever do is talk about myself. Well, I guess I do talk about him also but it is mostly me and what I'm thinking and feeling. I guess I just haven't quite figured out how to write about both of us without it turning into, "we did this and then we did this and it was fun." I don't know about you but, for me, that can get really old really fast. Let's just call this blog a work in progress and one of these days I'll figure out what it is I'm actually wanting to talk about.

And now for the what the heck. I have had a couple weeks full of epic fails. I scraped up the side of our car real bad trying to park in our garage. I got the starting time of the 5k I was supposed to run completely wrong and missed it. I've been misreading and forgetting things left and right. I've been having some weird sort of depression that I just can't get out of (and not being able to leave the house sure doesn't help at all). If five pregnancy tests hadn't already told me otherwise I would say I'm suffering from my pregnant brain. Gahhhhh! I wish I could think straight.